Inlägg 9Marianne Saietz (Denmark) skrev:den 4 juli 2009 kl. 01:30
Irena Bay skrevden 26. juni 2009 kl. 01:13
PART TWO

The first floor reigns the head of the family -, here, he has his collection of music sheets, it’s the musical center. On the second, you’ll find the guest room with a piano (which is used by Natalia), the room of Igor’s mother (who often comes for a visit) and the kitchen. On the upper floor - two bedrooms, that of the parents and that of the son. “My husband and I are lucky people -, reflects Natalia.- To go to a foreign country, find work, find friends, own such a house - what could be better?! And Sasha’s career you just have to call a fantasy.”

Rybak the Younger began taking lessons in music already in Minsk from aunts who are famous violinists. When Sasha was brought to Oslo, he continued taking lessons, now from his father. “At first, I was taught to play both, the violin and the piano, - remembers Sasha. - At the age of 7, I participated in a concert where I played violin in the first part, and in the second- the piano. But, as it turns out, that was my first and last performance as pianist. Papa decided that I need to focus on one thing and chose the violin.” Sasha was a gifted student. But, like every other child, he did not want to “serrate” violin when his friends are playing soccer outside. “When the bow accidentally broke, I rejoiced, without showing it. Cause as long the bow was in the repair shop, I was given three days off! - smiles Sasha. - My people, certainly, understood what I was longing for, but they always reassured me that very soon I will thank them for my “tortures”. And now, as it is, I thank them for everything! My first album, which was released in May, I of course dedicated to them. I think of how difficult it was for papa and mama to start all over again. I, as a five years old boy, experienced the transition as an adventure. I recall how we travelled on a train for almost two days (there wasn’t enough money for plane tickets), it was so interesting! But what was it for mama travelling through Poland, Germany and Denmark, all by herself, with a small child and huge luggage, changing trains again and again?!”

Sasha loved Norway right away. And the language, like all children, he learned it very fast. Because he did not want to be the foreign kid. Even today, he remembers one incident. He did not speak Norwegian yet, and his parents bought him a bicycle. The boy badly wanted to show it to the neighbor children. He rode it into the street, and he was surrounded by boys immediately. They admired the “car”, but went away two minutes later, because Sasha was not able to talk to them. “This made me very upset. I started to cry, ran back home, told everything mama, she also began to cry. And I understood: I need to learn Norwegian.” Soon, Sasha went to school in the neighbourhood. And half a year later, his teachers didn’t believe that he was not Norwegian, (by the way, Sasha learned to read Russian very early - already at the age of three). In the second grade, the boy was given from school a book that he should read at home and that was thought as reading workload for a year - one page per day. He swallowed it in two days, ‘cause the stories in that book were just too interesting. ”When I told that my teacher, she didn’t believe me and even scolded me: “You’re talking nonsense?!” Because the book was even for the Norwegian boys quite demanding. Thus Norwegian became my mother tongue. Regarding Russian, the language we use at home… My parents have been showing me Sovjet movies, and I adore “Kavkaskaya plenitsa”, “ Karnavalskaya notch”, “S novym godom” - oi, no, “S logkym parom”. [note: He mixes up here the titles, but eventually remembers it. Cute! :P] I know many Russian melodies: “Stary klon”, “Iz daleka tetchet reka Volga”, songs by Nikitin, Vysotsky (although I don’t understand them all). Pugachova is one of my favourite singers, especially her “Ne otrekayutsya lyubya.” So, I clearly adore the Russian culture. But my Russian is not perfect. Probably, I talk like a 10-years-old boy.”

Although the singer quickly adapted the language and was a good student, he began to have problems in school. “I wasn’t a bad guy, I wasn’t violent, not at all; I tried to be Norwegian and interacted with the others with a smile on my face - I always had the biggest smile in our school. But when I was a child, I was mobbed because I didn’t run to play soccer with the guys, because I ran to my violin lesson. But I didn’t accept the insults. When I was little, I was truly dangerous, ‘cause I always wanted to win in a fight. I didn’t care how old my enemy was, whether he was heavier than me. I never surrendered! But I calmed down when I hit the 12th birthday. Or rather, I found a way to stop a conflict without being drawn into a physical fight. In order to let the emotions out and not fight with a human being, I hit… a wall with my fist. And the rage goes away.

Actually, I have been “swimming against the current” all my life, because nobody believed in my ideas, except for my parents. For instance, I had been always arguing with my violinist teachers. They were teaching me: “No, you should play this differently; you can’t play Beethoven like that.” I could care less about traditions, I wanted it my way. Not because of stubbornness. I just didn’t understand why I should repeat a version, even, it is the most beautiful, instead of looking for something which is mine. I therefore was aggravating my parents a lot, but they aggravated me more. Meanwhile, my grades were always the best, and I kept winning contests of classical music. And when I started to sing, I didn’t get the support again. I don’t think of myself as singer: I never took vocal lessons, and you can hear it yourself that I’m not that a good singer. And I wrote my song “Fairytales” on the basis of the humble capabilities of my voice. But to me, it is less important to have an ideal voice, it is important to have something to tell people. I’m a storyteller, who tells people something with the help of his violin, his voice, piano. But not all did get that - asking why a studying violinist now singing?! Mixing up genres in this manner, is not approved.”

To be continued...